


check the facts

by witchpersephone (newaddress1997)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Anthony has a small YouTube channel, Anxiety, BBC, Barista Dan Howell, Dan was never on YouTube, Depression, Fluff and Angst, Introspection, M/M, Meet-Cute, Phil has a small and inactive YouTube channel, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn, Videojournalist Phil Lester
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:35:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21529915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newaddress1997/pseuds/witchpersephone
Summary: in which dan is a barista who doesn't know what he's doing with his life, phil is a videojournalist who is in a similar boat, and even the chaos that is life as a recent grad feels worth celebrating when it's with the right person.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	check the facts

**Author's Note:**

> i've not written a fanfic in more than five years so i have a lot of Feelings, but have probably the most self-indulgent thing i've ever written since i am:
> 
> \- a recent grad  
> \- a (kinda former?) journalist  
> \- someone who is (kinda) not using their degree because it turns out I don't like the work

When Dan gets to work, three minutes before his shift starts as always, Anthony is discussing his YouTube channel with one of their regulars. He’s gesturing wildly about interviewing furries for his new series and the BBC journalist seems genuinely interested in his take on the media representation of subcultures.

Anthony is Dan’s best friend, but the resentment is intense sometimes. Somehow he borrowed $100,000 to go to art school in the U.S., moved abroad on a whim, and ended up with essentially everything he wanted. Meanwhile, Dan doesn’t even know what he wants.

He’s been working in the BBC Broadcasting House’s cafe since he finished the law degree he’ll never use, and it’s a top-tier barista job, so things could be worse. But they could also be better, such as if Dan felt like he had anything approaching a career, or at least goals to start working toward one.

Anthony wraps up his chat and turns to Dan, inclining his head in greeting.

“Morning.”

Dan finishes clocking in and looks up to return the greeting.

“Morning. You trying to get ‘I spent a day with…’ on the BBC?” he asks, mostly as a joke, but also because Anthony probably could if he tried hard enough.

“Nah, trying to get access to one of the baby studios on an off day so I can film a more ambitious video,” he replies, as if it’s just a totally casual thing to shoot in a BBC studio, and then turns to smile at a new customer.

“Good morning, what can I get started for you?”

~~ // ~~

After the first hour, things get painfully slow, and Dan manages to go a solid thirty minutes without helping anyone. Anthony always likes it like this — he’ll sit in the back and send emails for YouTube — but Dan is just stuck with his own thoughts, which is intensely dissatisfying.

He should definitely stop at the grocery store after his shift, but that would require him to have spare energy after an eight-hour day on his feet, which hasn’t been happening as of late. Take out is expensive and he can’t really afford it, but it’s better than not eating, but what he should really do is cook, but what’s the chance he actually will?

Right before he starts down an unproductive thought spiral, an unfamiliar guy walks in asking for changes to the already-complicated fall special. Normally Dan would be annoyed, but this guy is hot and he’s weak. Also, he did save Dan from having a crisis about dinner, so maybe he deserves this weird sweet concoction.

“So that’s a chai-spiced latte with oat milk and one raw sugar, anything else?” he asks.

“Um…can I get a muffin too? Blueberry?”

“Sure,” Dan says, tapping on the POS. “That’ll be £6.75. Name for the order?”

“Phil.”

_Phil_ smiles way too sweetly as he hands over the cash, and Dan is thankful for the excuse to look away as he gathers change. Phil has pretty dark hair haphazardly shoved back into a quiff and oversized glasses framing clear blue eyes and Dan needs to get a grip.

“That’ll be out in a second,” he says without looking up, and then he fucking flees to make the coffee. Dan’s barista skills are much stronger than his interacting-with-humans skills, so it comes together just right, and when he hands over the drink Phil gives him another smile that he won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

He’s congratulating himself for only being like 20 percent awkward when Phil freezes right by the door, exclaims something that Dan doesn’t catch, and walks right back up to the register.

“I promised my boss I would get her something,” he says in a rush before Dan can even ask. “A cappuccino. Large. Extra hot. Please.”

“Sure,” Dan says, a little relieved that Phil isn’t a Frighteningly Perfect BBC Trainee™. He has the “recent grad with a lot to prove” look about him, but Dan can only interact with so many of the aforementioned trainees before his self-esteem takes a hit. They’re usually the first people he serves when he gets in, as they all want to be at least 15 minutes earlier than their supervisors.

“Where do you work?” Dan asks, feeling the need to make conversation as he rings up the second drink.

“I’m a video journalism trainee with the national news team,” Phil responds, with a tone that suggests he explains this to people a lot. “This is part of my intern responsibilities, you know?”

“I feel like a BBC traineeship isn’t quite the same as ‘being an intern?’” The traineeships are the most advanced and competitive of the BBC’s multiple programs for students and recent grads, and Dan’s pretty sure you can’t get one without having previous journalism experience.

He hands Phil his card and receipt while turning to see Anthony, back from his break. He squints at Dan for a second before signing into the second register and calling up the customer who just walked in.

Dan knows that look, but he shoves that whole line of inquiry as far away as possible. Now is the time to make Phil his cappuccino and try to be a remotely competent human being for a whole five minutes. He does not need to think about Anthony’s dumb face or dumb accuracy in reading people, including Dan.

“We don’t have apprentices in my department so I’m still the lowest rung on the ladder,” Phil explains with a sigh. “Somehow my experience as the founder, senior reporter, and executive producer of the AmazingPhil video blog doesn’t compete with BBC London experience.”

Dan’s response is half a beat too late as he gives 100 percent of his focus to pouring Phil’s milk just right. He’s probably been down here longer than he was supposed to be, but maybe an intensely perfect cappuccino will placate the faceless boss.

“Unjust,” he says as he grabs a lid, snapping it onto the indeed perfect drink before he can ruin it. “I’m sure you were doing more groundbreaking work than half of the people in national writing the same five stories about millennials.”

Phil blushes just a tiny bit.

“I mean, yes and no?” he says. “Like yes, I was talking about weird shit that other people weren’t, but I wouldn’t call it ‘stunning journalism,’ at least at the beginning. One of my friends told me that the BBC values the breadth of experience over everything looking professional, so my dumb short films from uni are still up.”

Dan’s mind runs way too wild with that, picturing a younger Phil gesturing wildly in front of a camera in a tiny uni house.

“Aw, I’m sure it’s all very wholesome,” he says handing Phil the cup. “You seem like the type—”

He cuts himself before he can finish the thought with “where even your cringe moments are just cute.”

He’s an embarrassment. Really.

Phil smiles. “Flattery will get you everywhere. Have a nice day…Dan,” he says, eyes sweeping down toward the name tag pinned to Dan’s chest, before smiling again and turning away.

Despite his best efforts, he makes eye contact with Anthony when going to check the next order. Anthony smirks and Dan vaguely waves his middle finger in that direction.

Embarrassment.

~~ // ~~

Dan arrives home exhausted as usual, and he spends exactly 60 seconds staring at the defrosted beef mince in his fridge before shutting it and turning to his kitchen shelving.

He’s not cooking tonight, and he chants “radical acceptance” to himself on repeat as he reaches up to the top cupboard for some fancy instant ramen. As he tears open the dehydrated vegetable packet he tells himself this is a step up from normal instant ramen rather than a step down from literally any actual food. It’s a hard sell.

Once his ramen is prepared, a glass of diet Ribena accompanying it, he sits down on his sad futon and starts to go through his notifications.

Anthony uploaded a video. His brother liked his most recent Instagram selfie. His boss approved last week’s timesheet.A mysterious alert from the bank came through.

He watches “I Spent A Day With FURRIES” and it’s very Anthony — a little bit edgy and a lot thoughtful. He shoots off the text “nice work on furries,” not necessarily expecting a response, but knowing he won’t remember to say something tomorrow.

Dan swipes back to his lock screen before remembering that his only other meaningful notification is from the bank, which he ignores. He knows that as an Adult that’s the worse thing he can do, but thinking about money makes him panic, and he can’t quite stomach it right now.

Moving to London was the right choice. He quite literally wouldn’t have survived moving back home, regardless of if his parents were up for it, and he needed to get out of Manchester after the hell that was uni. It was 100 percent the right choice, but London is so fucking expensive. Rent is essentially half of his income, which is insanely risky, but moving in with strangers was even more so considering all of his…baggage.

Anthony texts back, “thx bro :D,” and he ends up back at YouTube, where he clears his subscription box in thirty minutes and then gets possessed. Or at least that’s his excuse for typing “amazing phil” into the search bar, not particularly expecting anything, but knowing that if Phil has a whole portfolio of videos they probably live on this website.

He finds an AmazingPhil channel with 8,000 subscribers and almost 100 videos, from short films, to broadcast stories, to Phil’s first vlog, filmed on a crappy black and white webcam in 2006. He watches that first vlog, and laughs way too hard at the monkey trapped in a cage, and wants to ask Phil about it until he remembers that it’s _creepy_ that he looked him up at all, and who knows if he’ll ever see Phil again.

The thought makes him kind of sad.

He’s so fucked.

**Author's Note:**

> we're going into the busiest time of year for me at work, so i'm not going to promise you an update schedule i won't keep to, but updates live on twitter @witchpersephone


End file.
